Activity on the Junior Market returned to the more familiar trend recently of moderate trading and closed with just 7 securities trading and ending with 519,491 units changing hands valued at $948,548. The JSE Junior Market Index rose 8.04 points to close at 723.55, with the price of 5 stocks advancing and none declining.
At the close of the market, there were 3 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 stock with a lower offer. The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale.
Stocks trading in the junior market are, Caribbean Producers trading 69,950 units, moving up by 15 cents to $2.30, General Accident was up 2 cents to $1.72 while trading 289,200 shares but traded as high as $1.80 earlier in the day. Lasco Distributors trading shares closed at $1.37, 2 cents higher than on the previous day, Lasco Financial Services ended trading with 117,944 units at $1.09 to gain 1 cent, Lasco Manufacturing traded just 8,771 units at $1.15, Medical Disposables trading just 245 shares at $1.80, up 4 cents and Paramount Trading with 23,496 closed at $3.60.
Archives for April 2015
5 junior stocks rose none fell
2 new highs on TTSE Thursday
WITCO traded at a new 52 weeks’ high on Thursday
At the close of the market, the three main indices advanced, the Composite Index rose 0.40 points to 1,155.22, the All T&T Index rose 0.49 points to close at 1,972.96 and the Cross Listed Index increased by a mere 0.04 points to end at 44.24.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, Clico Investment Fund trading 45,300 shares, valued at $1,020,159 to advance by 1 cent, to $22.52. Jamaica Money Market Brokers trading 550 units, closing at $43, with a gain of 2 cents, Scotia Investments with 3,888 shares trading, advanced by 2 cents to $1.55. Unilever Caribbean stock price rose 44 cents, to end at a new 52 weeks’ high of $66, with 2,820 shares changing hands and West Indian Tobacco traded 297 shares to close with a gain of 5 cents to end at a new 52 weeks’ high of $125.10.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are, First Citizens Bank trading 4,558 shares and closing 1 cent down, at $35.37, Republic Bank fell 6 cents to close at $117.87 with 30,535 shares traded for $3,599,300 and Scotiabank, the volume leader, with 167,494 shares changing hands for a value of $10,401,420, closing at $62.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Firstcaribbean International Bank with 937 shares changing hands, and closing at $5, Guardian Holdings contributing 1,154 shares closing unchanged at $14.50. National Commercial Bank trading 3,100 units at $1.55, National Flour Mills traded 1,847 shares at $1.50, One Caribbean Media closing at $22.30 with 503 shares trading, Prestige Holdings with a volume of 139,113 shares being traded for $1,391,130 at $10 and Trinidad Cement in contributing 82,744 shares with a value of $215,134 at $2.60.IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 4 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.
Big market move, up 1,680 points
The JSE main and junior market indices are up so far with only half an hours trading. The junior market is up 7.06 points to 722.57 as Caribbean Producers moved to $2.30 and General Accident was up 10 cents to $1.80.
The all Jamaica climbed 1,679.59 points to 93,862.37 as Carreras jumped 99 cents to $41 and Scotia Group is up $1.44 to $23 with 827,000 shares trading and Jamaica Broilers is up 25 cents at $4.50. Scotia Investments acting as broker, bought all of the Scotia Group shares that traded, with 700,394 units being crossed by them. It is the first for sometime, that the JSE has started so positively and with such level of trading at this stage of the day.
The bid is strong for Caribbean Producers with 598,000 units at $2.30, Scotia Group’s bid is at $22.50.
US$10M more sold off on Wednesday
Dealers sold a net of US$10 million on Wednesday following on the net sale of US$9 on Tuesday. Purchases of all currencies by dealers amounted to a haul of US$33,890,697 equivalent, compared with US$45,222,043, on Tuesday and selling of the equivalent of US$43,245,266 versus sale of US$54,550,791, on the previous trading day.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$27,646,745 compared to US$40,889,369 on Tuesday. The buying rate for the US dollar fell 7 cents to $114.42 and US$39,278,675 was sold versus US$51,941,632 on Tuesday, the selling rate remained at $115.04. The Canadian dollar buying rate rose 83 cents to $90.06 with dealers buying C$3,961,261 and selling C$3,412,312, at an average rate that gained 13 cents to $90.75. The rate for buying the British Pound slipped 25 cents to $168.11 for the purchase of £1,430,371, while £651,652 was sold, at an average rate of $170.04, for a 6 cents rise. At the end of trading it took J$123.56 to purchase the Euro, $1.01 less than on Tuesday, according to data from Bank of Jamaica, while dealers purchased the European common currency at J$121.12 for a fall of $1.11 from Tuesday’s rate. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$1,024,612 while the equivalent of US$311,534, was sold.
Highs & Lows| The highest buying rate for the US dollar, climbed $1.20 to $116.50. The lowest buying rate fell 17 cents to $93.77, the highest selling rate moved up 80 cents to $121.23 and the lowest selling rate jumped with a $17.21 increase to $113. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar rose 10 cents to $91.10, the lowest buying rate declined by $1.41 to $71.38, but the highest selling rate was unchanged at $93.84 while the lowest selling rate rose $1.50 to $88. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, remained at $170.25, the lowest buying rate dropped 8 cents to $136.12 but highest rate fell $1.39 to $175.48 and the lowest selling rate increased by $1.90 to $166.
Jamaican economy grew 0.4% in 2014
Building under construction in Montego Bay contributed to economic growth in 2014
For the year Statin said that there was a 0.6 percent increase in the output of the Services industries while the Goods Producing industries declined by 0.1 percent. Growth last year was the second year of increased output for the economy with very moderate growth for 2013 around 0.2 percent. The figures will undergo at least two sets of revision before they are final as such the figures could be increased or reduced based on new data that may become available.
The Jamaican economy, grew by 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2014, over the similar period in 2013. In the second quarter, growth accelerated to 1.9 percent, but a combination of drought conditions and negative impact of Chick v illness as well as closure of the oil refinery severely affected growth in the second half of the year, but more so in the third quarter. The economy declined by 1.4 percent in the third quarter of 2014 compared to the similar quarter of 2013 and growth in “the final quarter of the year resulted in 0.4 percent negative growth compared with the same period in 2013,” Statin said.
For the final quarter of 2014 the reduction in output was due mainly to a 3.9 per cent decline in the Goods Producing industries. The Services industries however, recorded an increase of 0.8 per cent, Statin stated.
Juniors back to base with low activity
The bid on AMG is $2.40 vs. last sale of $2.26
The JSE Junior Market Index rose 9.08 points to close at 715.51, with the price of 1 stock advancing and 1 declining.
At the close, there were 4 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 1 stock with the offer lower.
The junior market ended with 5 securities closing with no bids to buy and 10 securities that had no stocks being offered for sale. Of interest is the bid to buy 459,000 units of AMG Packaging at $2.40 against the last traded price of $2.26.Stocks trading in the junior market are, Access Financial Services traded 11,000 units with a gain of $1.50 to end at $11.50, Caribbean Producers traded 3,971 units at $2.15, Lasco Manufacturing ended at $1.15 with 10,060 units trading at $1.15 and Lasco Distributors trading 12,065 shares and lost 2 cents in closing at $1.35.
Palace jumps $10 to $80
Patrons lined up at Palace’s Multiplex in Montego Bay
Main Market| The JSE Market Index lost 208.43 points to 83,596.25, the JSE All Jamaican Composite index fell 233.04 points to end at 92,182.78 and the JSE combined index dropped by 111.67 points to close at 85,292.93.
Elsewhere in trading resulted in the prices of 7 stocks rising, 8 declining as 21 securities changed hands, ending in 2,749,601 units trading, valued at $20,236,546, in all market segments.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, in the main and junior markets, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 8 stocks with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 stocks with offers that were lower.The main stocks trading in the main market are, Desnoes and Geddes with 1.5 million units ending at $5.50, for a 9 cents gain, Cable and Wireless with 710,000 units at 50 cents, Grace Kennedy with 45,844 units to close at $62 down 50 cents, as National Commercial Bank with 64,700 units and closing at $25. Sagicor Group chipped in with 86,700 units at $10.51 and Scotia Group had 79,445 units trading to close lower at $21.56.
Stocks closing with interesting bids and offers include Carreras with 88,500 units with a bid price of $40.01 with meaningful offer some distance off.
Gleaner with over 1 million units on the bid at 90 cents versus 500,000 on offer at $1.07. National Commercial Bank with a bid of $25 to buy nearly 200,000 units with the offer at $25.25 to sell 200,000 shares. Radio Jamaica with 1 million units bid at $1.48 just below the last traded price and the Sagicor Real Estate Fund with an offer to sell 1.44 million units at $6.95 and Seprod with 555,000 units on offer at $15.90.
TTSE’s moderate April start
Trading on the Trinidad Stock Exchange ended on Wednesday with 9 securities changing hands of which 4 advanced, 2 declined and 3 traded firm with a total of 269,896 units, valued at $687,834.
At the close of the market, the Composite Index rose 0.57 points to close at 1,154.82, the All T&T Index gained 0.51 points to close at 1,972.47 and the Cross Listed Index increased by 0.08 points to end at 44.20.
Gains| Stocks increasing in price at the close are, First Citizens Bank trading 139 shares to close with a gain of 1 cent, at $35.38, Massy Holdings trading 233 shares to close 1 cent higher at $63.01, Sagicor Financial Corporation contributing 13,200 shares and increasing by 15 cents to $5.75 and Trinidad Cement with 90,000 shares trading for $233,510, closed up 5 cents at $2.60.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are, National Commercial Bank with 160,120 shares changing hands for a value of $248,186 lost 1 cent to end at $1.55 and Scotiabank with only 50 shares trading closed with a 1 cent loss at $62.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading are, Ansa Mcal traded 40 shares to close at $66.91, Clico Investment Fund with 4,240 shares valued at $95,442 trading, the price remained at $22.51 and Firstcaribbean International Bank added 1,874 shares at $5.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 2 stocks with the bid higher than their last selling prices and 3 stocks with offers that were lower.
GOJ should report 2015 deficit
Government of Jamaica is reporting a deficit of $39 billion on its operation to February, this year, just below the $40 billion projected and a primary surplus of $79 billion versus forecast of $83 billion.
With the budget for March this year indicating expectations for a surplus of $29 billion, the country should be seeing an overall deficit close to the $11 billion reflected in the 2014/15 budget. The primary surplus budgeted at $121 billion could end up around $116 billion unless there are extraordinary inflows or sharp cut in expenditure.
Overall revenues fell $12 billion for the 11 months while there were cuts of $9 billion in capital expenditure, wages $3 billion and interest cost almost $6 billion. PAYE delivered $3 billion more inflows than forecast and withholding tax performed better than forecast by $2.5 billion. Pulling down the revenues were Local GCT $7 billion, corporation taxes $7.5 billion.
JSE down in early trading
The JSE main market indices are down with triple digit losses as National Commercial Bank and Grace Kennedy pulled back in price from Tuesday’s close. .
Desnoes and Geddes however traded at $5.50, slightly up on the previous day’s closing with 1.5 million units. Only one stock has so far traded in the junior market
